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School choice advocates hope to get more support from Trump administration
January 23, 2017 06:58 PM
Rochester parents who want more choices for their kids -- besides the public school system -- are celebrating what they think is a new chance to get those choices.
"School Choice Week" is now underway. This year, advocates think they see new support from a new administration in Washington.
Educators at Saint Kateri School say they often hear from parents who want the kind of education the school provides but...
Sr. Kay Lurz, Saint Kateri School principal: "'Umm, I can't afford it,'"
Charles Molineaux: "You hear that a lot?"
Lurz: "Very, very often."
St. Kateri has long rallied for school choice with charter and private schools. But with a new president, and school choice supporter Betsy DeVos chosen to be education secretary, some advocates say the time is right for the help they need -- like tax credits or vouchers to help families pay for their children's education including at alternatives like private or Catholic schools.
Sr. Lurz says, "Without a doubt, there's more hope this year, because people are wanting vouchers. They are wanting parents to have the option to choose the schools for their children."
"The question is who is offering the choices?" asks Rochester Board of Education President Van White.
Leaders in the Rochester school system insist they embrace "some" choice already. The city has more than a dozen charter schools. White says, for Rochester parents, there are alternatives and school leaders are listening.
"The reality is, unless we provide those successful choices for our children, they will go elsewhere," says White.
School choice advocates point out that most education policy is made on the state level, but they say the Trump administration can use their bully pulpit, and their purse, to at least nudge state and local systems into making reforms.
"Betsy DeVos, we will wait and see, and hope," says Sr. Lurz.
School Choice Week is being joined by public charter schools like Rochester Preparatory School but also religious schools like the Rochester Christian School, the Hillel Community Jewish School, Saint Kateri Catholic School and Classical Conversations of Canandaigua, which focuses primarily on home schooling.